Canvas
by LuxaLucifer
Summary: "Someone once told me the back is a canvas," said a voice, harsh to the ears. The boys turned to see Maedhros, so tall that his head might have been the sun to the sitting boys.


Pretty short, and pointless. Not sure how I feel about it. Lots of talk about scars, which is torture related, I guess? Moringotto- Morgoth

* * *

When Elrond and Elros were young, they found a tub of black paint and a couple old paintbrushes.

"Use it," Maglor told them. "If you want. We don't need it."

So they used it. Each twin held a paintbrush and, together, dipped it in the thick black paint and started, painting on each other's arms, thick spiral designs with no pattern or meaning. Soon they were out of room and started their legs, visible with the shorts they both wore. After they they stared blankly, unsure of where to go next, sitting on the dry grass with inky paint drying on their soft skin.

"Someone once told me the back is a canvas," said a voice, harsh to the ears. The boys turned to see Maedhros, so tall that his head might have been the sun to the sitting boys.

The boys looked at each and shrugged, discarding their tunics to start painting their backs.

"Who told you that?" asked one of the boys with silver eyes and hair as black as the paint.

"Moringotto."

The word meant nothing to them, so they continued their painting.

* * *

When the patrol returned, they were splattered with blood, horse and Elves alike. Maglor was waiting at the gate, as always, when the riders rode through, and his eyes widened when he saw.

"What happened?" he asked, voice tight.

Maedhros dismounted the giant steed the same way as always, with one graceful motion. "There are two injured, no deaths. We happened across a small pack of orcs, long escaped from the main horde. we disposed of them quickly." Maedhros's tone was calm and cold, his gray eyes made of flint.

Elrond and Elros watched from the shadows. When Maedhros turned to tell his soldiers what to do, they noticed something that no one else had.

"Maglor," said Elrond, having no better name to call him. "He is injured."

"Hm?" said Maglor, who was preoccupied with getting aid for a man who was nearly falling off his horse.

"Maedhros," said Elros. "He is injured."

Maglor's eyebrows furrowed. "He didn't mention-"

Elrond and Elros pointed, and Maglor's gaze shot up to Maedhro's worn brown tunic, where blood was quickly staining the back.

"Brother," said Maglor, his stride quick as he bridged the space between them. "Brother, you're hurt."

"Nonsense," said Maedhros, glancing at Maglor as he took the saddle off his horse. "I'm fine."

"It's your back."

And just like that, Maedhros believed them. He left his second-in-command in charge and followed his younger brother without another word, Elrond and Elros trotting along in their wake.

It was Maglor who wrested the shirt off Maedhros's back and exposed the wound, which had cut through layers and layers of scars to hit the bone. Blood wept from it like a horrible empty eye, but Maedhros didn't seem to notice.

"I didn't feel it," said Maedhros, although it wasn't clear who he was speaking to. "I didn't feel it at all."

"Leave us," said Maglor. _"Please."_

He sounded so very, very old that Elrond and Elros shuffled out without complaint, glancing back only to find a door shutting on them.

* * *

Elrond and Elros once stumbled across Maedhros swimming. They sneaked down to the river to wade in it or throw sticks or pretend to be great soldiers, but instead they found Maedhros. His clothes were neatly folded on the bank as he swam, making ripples in the water as he did laps.

It didn't take long before he noticed them, stilling with his head above the water, his arms moving to keep him afloat. He stood then, and the water was deep enough that it covered his legs and lower chest, letting them have a view of his scarred abdominal muscles.

"Play some other time," he said, not unkindly.

They turned to leave quickly, and when Elrond looked back, all he could see were scars gleaming in the sun as Maedhros turned his back on them.

* * *

In the end, that's what Maedhros did.

He turned his back on them.

But, as Elrond and Elros would come to accept, when one had so many scars they could no longer feel, it was better to avoid getting more.


End file.
